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KLM Was Presented With An 83-Year-Old Ticket: This Is How It Reacted

Bruce Parkinson, Open Jaw

29.06.18

Arnold Neahus was only 7 in 1935 when he won a contest with a precious prize – a flight around Amsterdam on KLM.

Unfortunately, Neahus couldn't go on the flight, because his sister had highly infectious scarlet fever. He did, though, keep the letter informing him that he'd won. He even showed it off to his family.

Cut to 83 years later. Arnold Neahus is now Grandpa Nol. His granddaughter wrote to the KLM board of directors to tell them the story, and in a spurt of kindness and wisdom, the carrier decided to honour the ticket for his 90th birthday.

Grandpa Nol took his 7-year-old great-grandson Jagger with him for his prize flight. And KLM really laid it on. It picked up Neahus and Jagger up in a Ford Model A Tudor car that was built in 1928. And it flew them on a 1944 Dakota DC-3.

With a simple gesture the airline garnered positive feelings toward its brand, and made an old man’s – and a young man’s – dream come true.

Bruce Parkinson Editor-in-Chief

An observer and analyst of the Canadian and international travel industries for over 25 years, Bruce uses the pre-dawn hours to prepare a daily news and information package to keep industry members up to date.